Publishing Commons^™

Something Old, Something New: How Chapbooks And Crowdfunding Can Reduce Financial Risk For Small Publishers, Jennifer Lindsay

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

Small publishing houses often follow lean and nimble business models, yet the financial risk inherent in publishing for niche readerships can be a barrier for such entrepreneurial practices. Exploring the dual conditions of a less expensive and more eco-friendly format of a chapbook instead of an initial hardcover illustrated book, while determining pre-order interest through a crowdfunding platform, this paper looks at a process to reduce financial risk for small publishers who can’t necessarily do accurate comparative analysis for their sales projections. Common terminology is defined, supplemented by a literature review and a detailed ethnographic approach, including a case study …

Pride, Prejudice, And Diversity: The Retelling Culture The Development And Analysis Of Best Practices For Diverse Modern Re-Imaginings Of The Classics, Hannah Boettcher

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the publishing industry—in possession of predominately white authors, characters, and staff—must be in want of more diversity. At least, it should be such a truth because understanding is the first sentence of a much longer novel: the industry as a whole must be recast to represent all readers. From classic works to current bestsellers, there is an inherent need for not just more diverse books, but also an acceptance that the system requires more than just “surface level” solutions. This paper proposes four diverse modern retellings of Pride and Prejudice as a case …

The Influence Of Ursula K. Le Guin, Bailey Potter

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

The aim of this research study was to examine how Ursula K. Le Guin and her oeuvre were influential to contemporary and future writers, as well as what her influence was on the literary and publishing communities. Study was conducted through a qualitative interview process with seven Portlanders who have in some way been influenced by and/or who personally knew Le Guin. Using the transcripts from the interviews, I separated the information into themes and wrote out each section, synthesizing interviewee answers and using supplemental information to build my results. Ursula K. Le Guin influenced the literary and publishing communities …

Consent Is Sexy: A Look Into The Influence The ‘Me Too.’ Movement Had On The Romance Genre Through Smart Bitches Trashy Books, Mary Williams

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

Romance has been a mainstream genre for centuries that has evolved and redefined itself throughout its existence. Often, especially in the last fifty years, readers of romance, and the genre itself, face the stigma of only being for bored housewives and therefore less legitimate than other fiction works. This is due to several factors: how controversial the content can be when it comes to consent in intimate moments, that the storyline can disturb the status quo of a patriarchal society, and that the female protagonist and her needs are considered more important than her male counterpart. Because of this stigma, …

Diversity And Representation In Oregon’S Battle Of The Books, Catharine Brown

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

This paper will examine the Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) reading lists for the last five years, evaluating the diversity and representation within the books. An initial survey of the titles chosen for the OBOB reading list from 2016-2021 suggests that there has been more of an effort to choose diverse books in the most recent years, indicating that the titles being chosen are responding to the greater call for decentering whiteness within United States literacy programs. Literacy programs encourage students to read outside of the classroom. The competition-style program Battle of the Books offers game-based learning and allows …

Uncovering The Dirt On Cancel Culture: An In-Depth Analysis Of Publishing’S Relationship With Controversy, Alix Martinez

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

Cancel culture is a social phenomenon that has risen from the massive amounts of online users finding common issues and speaking up about them en masse on social media platforms. In recent years, this has become even more obvious as it is reported that social media users’ consumption has risen up to 72 percent more from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. This has brought the topic into the forefront of many debates and people are taking issue with it. These issues can vary but one thing is for sure: cancel culture does not appear to be slowing down anytime …

The Writing For Healing And Transformation Project, Heather Elizabeth Osborn

Education Doctorate Dissertations

As a qualitative action research study, the purpose of The Writing for Healing and Transformation Project was to facilitate more inclusive writing strategies and to promote individual and collective healing on issues of social suffering and oppression (Kleinman, Das, & Lock, 1997; Pennebaker & Smyth, 2016) for diverse students at a community college located in the northeastern United States. The 18 participants in the study included students in my English II literature and composition course. The theoretical framework encompassed Pennebaker’s (2016) “writing for healing” paradigm, advocating the use of expressivist writing and “social suffering theory,” examining how power structures affect …

Library Publishing Curriculum Sustainability Module: Readme (Overview), Brian W. Keith, Laurie N. Taylor

Library Publishing Curriculum

The Sustainability Module addresses core concerns related to library publishing as a socio-technical system. In order for library publishing endeavors to establish longevity and long-term success, professionals need to address a range of concerns related to people, policies, communities, technologies, and financials.

Library Publishing Curriculum Sustainability Module: Business Basics (Unit 1), Instructor's Guide, Brian W. Keith, Laurie N. Taylor

Library Publishing Curriculum

The Business Basics unit differentiates projects and programs, and introduces concepts and considerations around costs, funding, profit, and economies of scale and scope. This unit also connects ethical and business considerations for library publishing, and it discusses how to plan for the longevity of published materials. By covering these important building blocks for the management and assessment of operations, this unit will support a shared vocabulary for communicating with other non-library stakeholders regarding business operations.

Library Publishing Curriculum Sustainability Module: Staffing And Governance (Unit 3), Instructor's Guide, Brian W. Keith, Laurie N. Taylor

Library Publishing Curriculum

The Staffing unit provides an overview of position types, services and activities involved with staffing for library publishing, and types of staffing including external, outsourcing, contract workers, and employees. This unit addresses staffing along with considerations for staffing practices including diversity and ethical practices.

Library Publishing Curriculum Sustainability Module: Preservation (Unit 4), Instructor's Guide, Brian W. Keith, Laurie N. Taylor

Library Publishing Curriculum

Preservation anchors the socio-technical concerns of library publishing in relation to sustainability—including existing supports within libraries for digital preservation. This unit uses a case study to provide a contextualized example of digital preservation terms and concerns.

Library Publishing Curriculum Sustainability Module: Financial Basics (Unit 2), Instructor's Guide, Brian W. Keith, Laurie N. Taylor

Library Publishing Curriculum

Financial Basics provides an overview of budgeting and reporting in relation to projecting, predicting, and planning. This unit also addresses considerations for accounting for non-monetary goals, including intangible assets (goodwill) and diversity.

Library Publishing Curriculum Sustainability Module: Self-Evaluation Rubric, Brian W. Keith, Laurie N. Taylor

Library Publishing Curriculum

This rubric can be used to assess the learner's knowledge and preparedness before and after their engagement with the Sustainability unit.

On The Future Of Ijsl: Trans-Collaboration And How To Overcome The Structural Constraints On Knowledge Production, Distribution And Dissemination, José Del Valle

Publications and Research

In this essay, using as a point of departure his dilemma to accept or not the invitation to be a member of IJSL’s Editorial Board, del Valle discusses the limitations that academic publishing places on scholars in the humanities and interpretive social sciences: their choice of objects and analytical protocols, and the modes of distribution and dissemination of their production. The constraints imposed by highly bureaucratized universities and publishing companies are set against the intellectual imperative to build academic fields grounded in equality and inclusion. The essay concludes with some thinly drawn goals towards more dynamic trans-collaborative forms of knowledge …

The Pacific Sentinel: March/April 2021, Mini Issue, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Vivian Veidt

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter From the Editor
• Royalty Notwithstanding
• A Man, a Plan, and a Virus
• United We Stand?
• Dreamhouse and Other Horrors
• The Art of the Podcast

Immersive Media & Books: Consumer Behavior And Experience With Multiple Media Forms, Panorama Project, Rachel Noorda, Kathi Inman Berens

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

This is the first study to capture data about how people engage with books, video games and TV/movies. The study’s main emphasis is on behavior with books, with demographic data in three age groups, five U.S. regions, and seven racial/ethnic groups. Books exist in a connected media ecosystem where the most important customers are avid: avid book engagers (4+ books per month), but also avid consumers of other media. It is possible that these people are the ones who drove the 8.2% increase in book sales during 2020. This study finds that customers who engage avidly with books do so …

Ooligan Press: Building And Sustaining A Feminist Digital Humanities Lab At A R-2, Kathi Inman Berens, Abbey Gaterud, Rachel Noorda

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

How can practitioners outside of R-1s afford to build a DH lab? How to connect a lab’s output to the communities it serves? This essay is a case study of Ooligan Press, a student-run trade press housed within a R-2, teaching-intensive university. Two elements make Ooligan Press distinctive as a DH lab. First, Ooligan is a not-for-profit business folded into a Master’s program in Book Publishing. Profits from sale of Ooligan Press books sustain the lab, which would collapse if its books were steadily unprofitable. Second, the essay uses the DH feminism “M.E.A.L.S.” framework to explain how Ooligan's horizontal management …

The Pacific Sentinel, February 2021, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Vivian Veidt

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter from the Editor
• Georgia On Everyone’s Mind
• A Minimum Requirement of Neutrality
• An Unspoken Norm
• Pigs Saving Lives
• COVID-19 Affecting the Workplace
• Why Did President Trump Kill Federal Inmates on His Way Out?
• Reconstructing America

Entrepreneurial Identity In Us Book Publishing In The Twenty-First Century, Rachel Noorda

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

Entrepreneurship underpins many roles within the publishing industry, from freelancing to bookselling. Entrepreneurs are shaped by the contexts in which their entrepreneurship is situated (social, political, economic, and national). Additionally, entrepreneurship is integral to occupational identity for book publishing entrepreneurs. This Element examines entrepreneurship through the lens of identity and narrative based on interview data with book publishing entrepreneurs in the US Book publishing entrepreneurship narratives of independence, culture over commerce, accidental profession, place, risk, (in)stability, busyness, and freedom are examined in this Element.

Indicators And Perspectives Of Bibliodiversity In The Spanish Publishing Sector, Jesús I. Rivas-García, Marta Magadán-Díaz

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

In the absence of research aimed to measure the bibliodiversity of the Spanish publishing sector through indicators, the general objective of this work is to determine quantitatively whether the Spanish publishing sector is bibliodiverse. The specific goals are the following: a) analyze those necessary conditions to promote bibliodiversity, b) identify the main variables that conform bibliodiversity, and c) measure the degree of bibliodiversity. From the study of the contributions of the academic literature, this research forms an analysis model with the main necessary conditions of the bibliodiversity of the Spanish publishing sector: deconcentration, digital transformation, and glocalization. After reflecting on …